2/4 Season One, Episode 7 Service Above and Beyond

Lee looks pretty chuffed at Amanda liking the house which will be Victoria Greenwich’s.. his emotions seem to go up and down and all over the place as far as she is concerned!

Lee totally sets up some of Amanda’s confusion when she meets the servants.. why tell her ‘they are your help’ why not just say these agents will pose as your help.. bad Lee! I think he has some fun with her.. trying to keep her as off balance as she seems to so effortlessly manage with him! (he just watches her meet them.. and doesn’t take his eyes off her!)

It is too funny when they start climbing the stairs and Amanda stops Lee and asks if they are in on it.. her comical over the top reaction is priceless!!! and I love the little smile Lee secretly has to himself once she turns her back to him and keeps climbing the stairs. they are standing so close to each other.. so totally in each other’s space..

Why have they gone for agents who are so sour faced? Are we suppose to be worried they are baddies? I would have loved it if Francine had played the maid to Amanda’s mistress of the house.. but.. I’ll have to wait another season to see Francine cope with domestic duties

ahh Lee.. that jealousy is showing..

Lee: The scenario boys compile all the data we have on James Delano, particularly his taste in women, Victoria Greenwich becomes a composite of all the women he’s been involved with, and believe me, there have been quite a few. (love Amanda’s little fake chuckle at this comment..)

Why such contempt Lee? You are no saint when it comes to women either!!!!You all of a sudden don’t like playboys? If the computer was to do a run up on the women Lee has gone for up till now… what would it say?? anyone want to give it a shot???!!!!

Ahhh I think everyone loves this line… good one Amanda..Lee: Yeah. The computer also suggests that you wear your hair up.

Amanda: Well, why don’t you let the computer put the dress on and go out with him tonight, too?

Ahh Lee the moment she saw the jewels she wasn’t going to be able to listen to you.. suffer Lee.. what’s it like to have a woman ignore you? It is a new experience for Lee and he doesn’t like it do ya!!! he heee..Love that Amanda stuffs it all up anyway.. none of it matters in the end.. what matters was that the skiing was bad in Gstaad.. and Lee’s info didn’t tell her that.. but .. I get ahead of myself!

On to dinner between Amanda and Delano with Lee in the van listening in.. It is sooo funny how Lee is listening in and trying to eat a sandwich.. but he is so annoyed at her not getting the scenario right, he corrects her talking to himself out loud (the other guy is only half listening..) and waves his sandwich around dropping the filling!!! hehehee..

Whooo Lee’s expression when Delano says “(let’s toast) to whoever was responsible for bringing you last night.”.. and Amanda replies “well it wasn’t really anyone who.. “.. oh man! Lee looks angry with that!!!!!!!!! Delano: Never mind. I don’t want to know. I’m just glad you were there. Why haven’t we met before?Lee listening in in the van: Can you believe him? I had a better line in high school. ( Lee is seriously annoyed now!!!! Jealous Lee??!!!)Amanda: Well, you know how it is.Lee: No. Tell us.

Doesn’t Amanda look lovely at the dinner? she looks so happy.. she is really enjoying this little fantasy trip away from her own dishes.. She really likes Delano..

Love the completely baffled look Lee gives the other agent in the van when Amanda starts rattling on about the war of the roses.. I agree Lee.. I think I would look that baffled too!

Delano manages to cover it up.. and still look besotted.. Lee says to the other agent “what is she talking about??”and the other agent is trying not to laugh.. and it cuts back to Amanda looking totally serious… it is too funny!
Her delivery of the line “It was a dark.. stormy.. night! “is hilarious!

Amanda: I just looked at the executioner and smiled serenely because I knew I wasn’t going to die.Delano: I’m so glad you didn’t. Victoria Greenwich, where have you been all my life?Amanda: Which life?

Well you can tell Delano isn’t even really listening to her.. he is just giving her a line.. what do you mean your glad she didn’t ?? you think she has been alive since the war of the roses? eh??? oh purlease!!! and the ultimate cliché???

Delano:where have you been all my life?? !!blah!!!!! yuck!!!! I gotta laugh at Amanda’s great response though:Which Life?? well if you are believing this line of Delano’s Amanda, I would suggest that you were probably born yesterday!!!!

Uh oh Amanda’s brooch, the wire accidentally comes off and Amanda swiftly heads for the ladies to meet Lee..

Well.. we come to the big fight!!! whoo hoooo!! I love it when these two fight! and we get plenty of that in season 1!

I gotta say Amanda, you are being a dill believing this guy Delano.. err I mean Jim! Usually she doesn’t fall for a line.. this is one of those rare times.. Lee: your not falling for that guy’s line are ya?Amanda: What Line?Look, you may think Jim’s no good but I think he’s charming and I think he’s sincere.Lee: do you have any idea how many women Jim has been sincere with?Amanda: I don’t believe it.

Lee: dozens!

Amanda: Nooooo you!!!Lee: What about me?

Amanda: Your sounding like a jealous person! you have no right-Lee: I am not j-

Amanda: -right to act like a jealous person!

Lee: what are you-Amanda: Here. Look. You just take this little thing, get it out of my life! Go back in your truck and do whatever you’re doing and don’t eavesdrop on me!Lee: Amanda!!!!!!!!!! whoa. good save Lee..demand to see the chef!

I am looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts on this fight! Do you notice Lee is more annoyed about her buying Jim’s line than about the brooch coming off?

Lee gets really annoyed at her accusing him of being jealous??!!!! oh Lee.. you are sooo out of control at this moment.. and it is freaking you out!!! Yep… He is officially and unambiguously jealous!!!!!!!!!! yeeee haaaa!!

Lee is very annoyed at her talking to Delano and reminds her to keep her mind on the job.. but the job was talking to Delano and keeping him occupied!! I thought she was doing a good job at that! hehehee.. bad Lee! Why does anyone need to be listening to Amanda and Delano on their date anyway??!! So long as he followed her and knew they were at the restaurant and that it was safe to search Delano’s home.. so what.. Okay okay.. yes it made for jealous a Lee and a great fight…

Ok.. Delano tries to get into the house.. nice try buddy.. even if she wanted to.. (umm..and she may at this point!) she can’t.. Wait a minute! she is wearing the brooch again! i thought she shoved it into Lee’s hand and told him to stop eaves dropping on her.. hmm.. maybe there was a listening device thingy she took that off and she put the brooch back on to prevent arousing suspicion.. hmmm…

Ewh.. he kisses her lightly in the car.. and then (yuck!!) blows her a goodbye kiss.. oh Jim.. you are too much! Don’t treat Victoria Greenwich like she is a quickie chickie!!!! heheheheee

Amanda enters the home and is swamped by the agents getting the jewellery off her.. Lee quietly enters the room with a glass of alcohol in his hand, he quietly smiles to himself. – anyone think he is happy to see her home?? and that she in fact did ‘come home’? rather than go back to Jims??? I reckon that is why he waited around.. to make sure she came home and what time..

Love how Amanda doesn’t respond to Lee’s digging for answers on how the night went.. he tries it two or three times.. and she isn’t biting or feeling she owes him an explanation!

It seems strange when Lee starts telling Amanda all about what happened that night and Hollander.. almost like now she has come home he wants to talk and catch up.. hehehe.. miss her Lee??!!! It was only her job to charm delano.. why does she need to know about plane tickets? there goes Lee with his weird blabbing of info to someone who at this point isn’t seen as his partner.. ooooohhh kkkkkkkk….

Lee: Now, what were you saying about your evening?

Amanda: Oh. I wasn’t going to say anything at all about it.

Lee: Hmm.

Careful Lee.. better stop there.. or Amanda will start on with that crazy idea of you being crazy jealous again!!!

Singer is talking to Lee on the phone when Hollander the baddie knocks.. Singer puts Lee on hold.. gosh.. why not just hold the phone and say your talking to your mother or something? no.. he puts Lee on hold, where there is a big bright light that tells people someone is on hold and pretends that he wasn’t talking to anyone, and casually lights up a cigarette (come on Singer, that stuff’ll kill ya) .. oh dear.. is this guy an accountant? he looks like one.(a stereotypical one, not a real one!)… Gosh Lee.. where is the guy’s protection? he is no pro.. can he get the guest list?? Lee: “Get it!”… he isn’t on your staff.. and your not even offering him any protection.. bad Lee..

I’m not buying the whole getting run over by the ice cream truck.. man that looked staged..the guy keeps running in line with where the truck was going.. how obedient of him.. It’s suppose to be awful and scary.. but it is just so ridiculous and funny!!! Whahahahahaahaaa!!

Oh well.. Lee looks so cute in the outdoors with his collar turned up like that doesn’t he..

11 responses to “2/4 Season One, Episode 7 Service Above and Beyond”

This seems like a good spot to point out that I think at the start of SMK, there was complete separation between the “personal” and the “professional” for Lee. Obviously Amanda is the complete opposite – she can’t compartmentalize anything from anything – but back to Lee – not only is his personal life completely separate from his professional life, but it’s completely epitomized by his err, um, encounters, which (for me at least) are characterized as routine and interchangeable i.e. nothing genuine or honest (at least emotionally) about them. Work on the other hand, is where he gets to be honest and genuine emotionally at least to some degree (and here I’m thinking he has good relationships with Billy and Francine)… but he keeps them firmly in the “colleagues” camp, so the range of emotions he allows himself to show/feel are limited and possibly non-threatening? So, to keep going with my thought, Lee meets Amanda, and she insists on mixing the personal with the professional (not deliberately at this point I don’t think; she just doesn’t know any other way to be), and boy does he get thrown for a loop. I think scenes like the one in the bathroom are more about showing us that, for Lee, what might be considered more personal emotions (i.e jealousy) are beginning to crossover to (or surface in? not sure which really) his professional world. So the audience gets these little moments/insights of emotional honesty from Lee and even in the moment he is completely unaware of them.

Yes, of course it’s UST coming across onscreen, but I think at this point, that’s just… what did someone say? “insane [professional] chemistry” at work between KJ and BB. And I do think that the chemistry between KJ/BB ends up driving the trajectory of the relationship between Lee and Amanda over the course of the show. Any two other actors and this show might have been very different. When it comes to onscreen pairings, sometimes magic just happens, and here it definitely did!

… I think at this point, that’s just… what did someone say? “insane [professional] chemistry” at work between KJ and BB. And I do think that the chemistry between KJ/BB ends up driving the trajectory of the relationship between Lee and Amanda over the course of the show. Any two other actors and this show might have been very different. When it comes to onscreen pairings, sometimes magic just happens, and here it definitely did!

Love Amanda’s line about getting the computer to go on a date with Delano, very funny. I think Amanda does pretty well considering they chuck her in at the deep end with a whole imaginary history and having to fake emotion at a non existent dead husband.
Lee clearly enjoys showing Amanda the house but I love the fact that once she stumbles on the jewellery he’s totally lost her LOL ooh something that glitters and is shiny, that would totally be my reaction 😀
Love the way Amanda throws the brooch for Lee to catch. Bad Lee, Amanda IS keeping Delano more than distracted. Stop misdirecting your jealousy 😉
So Amanda arrives home, Lee seems half pleased to see her. Love how she avoids giving him any details about her evening, yep Amanda keep Lee hungry for more 😉
Didn’t Lee think 7am was a bit odd for an ice cream truck to be touting for business? Super spy……sometimes he can be incredibly dense.

My husband laughed and said to Lee’s comment, “What is she talking about?” Of when they are eating dinner. She’s talking about the book she is reading (which I thought was a good explanation because I thought that Amanda was losing it, which when she is explaining the book to Lee in the car the heroines husband is waiting execution). Oh, everytime I see that bathroom scene I ROFL…Lee’s definitely jealous (which hasn’t Lee been sincere with dozens of women?)…Love Amanda calling him on it and saying, “You have NO RIGHT to be jealous!” And she doesn’t really take anything off of Lee and puts him in his place. She’s doing what they want so butt out of the personal life part!!!! Is this the first time he says her name like that in exasperation? The last of this scene is what really cracks me up when the other lady walks in and he pretends to want the kitchen LOL!!!!

We’re back in Billie’s office where Amanda has to pass a kind of a cross examination. Isn’t it hilarious how she innocently rambles on about Delano and what he told her? Oh Amandaaaaa! Don’t you understand Lee and Billy are after another kind of information? On the other hand, this is the perfect prelude for the bomb she is about to throw. Delano invited her to dinner! Wohoooooo, look at Lee! I almost thought he’d turn green in the face when he asks back: „He invited you to dinner??“ Billy is amused: „It doesn’t surprise me!“ Well, our super spy is not amused at all. Is this the first time we see him with such undisguised jealousy? Whoooohoooooooo, if looks could kill! To make his confusion complete, Amanda rambles on about the Bombers (!) and the Silver Springs Swordfish… Poor Lee! He doesn’t know what’s happening to him, bwahaaaaaaa!

Look how Lee’s face changes to an expression of happiness when Billy speaks of making a sweep and a scenario. That helps him to win back his composure in a twinkling of an eye. I think he is relieved that everything finally comes down to business. Remember how he emphasized his „purely business“ question in „There goes the neigbourhood“? Okay Lee: You just keep telling yourself that, if it makes you feel more at ease 😉

Wow, it looks like Lee really enjoys introducing Amanda to her „new home“ and new life as Victoria Greenwich. I think he is proud as well: He loves showing her what a powerful institution he works for. And how quickly and professionally everything is dealt with. I think he silently enjoys Amanda’s amazement and enthusiasm as well. Hahaaa, the butler and the maid are hilarious… and Amanda is very funny because you can tell she does not know how to speak to domestic and service personnel. She is not used to that and she has no idea how to behave. KJ does a great job again: her smile and body language convey all the uncertainty.

Iwsod, Lee and Amanda really stand very close to each other on the staircase. With the two ornamental molding lines on the wall behind them this makes a very strong picture. They kind of subtly imply that Amanda cannot fall… or that if she would, Lee would be there to catch her. Come to think of it: How much has this epy been dramaturgically constructed? In this scene Lee and Amanda climb up the stairs together: later we will see Lee carrying unconscious Amanda down the stairs. An intentional paranthesis? What do you think?

Lee is all business, but he cannot hold back one or two sarcastic remarks about Delano and his taste in women… Which is of course very telling. What do you care, Lee, huh? :-)) Wow, listen to ready-witted Amanda: „Why don’t you let the computer put the dress on and go out with him too?“ Perfectly good question! Good on you, Amanda! Lee ignores this with nonchalance. I really like that Amanda ignores him too when she tries on the jewels she finds in the drawers of the dressing-table. I could bet Lee is not used at being ignored by any woman at all.

Lee’s lecture is crossfaded into Amanda’s dinner with Delano. I think it is sooooo great how she confuses the life-story of Victoria Greenwich! And even greater how eavesdropping Lee reacts to this in his van! I think if he wouldn’t really care for Amanda, he would just scoff. Maybe shake his head or shrug his shoulders… and that would be all. But nooooooo, far from it! Whereas his team-mate silently smiles to himself, Lee gets more and more annoyed. You can watch his anger build up. And wheeeeeee, Amanda’s great line about who brought her last night! „Well, it wasn’t really anyone who… You know…“ Haaaaaaaa, look at Lee’s face! How sarcastic he gets! I think he is seriously mad at her. To cut him some slack, I think most of James Delano’s lines are preposterous. How did you put it, Iwsod? The ultimate cliché! That is dead on. „Where have you been all my life…“ Ewwwwwwwwww! Give me a break. I understand Amanda enjoys her fairy tale, and I really would not want to begrudge her that. But what has gotten into her that she is on the edge of falling for such oily lines?

Reincarnation! The war of the roses! A count imprisoned in the Tower of London! And, of course, a dark stormy night… I am sorry if I may sound snooty, but I think Amanda reads the wrong stuff. Couldn’t anybody give her a good book instead of printed junk? Ooooookayyyyyy Karen, cut it off. I did not mean to give offense.

Arrrrrrghhh, the broochs falls from Amanda’s dress… What a horrible soundscape for the agents in the van! Love how good humoured Lee’s companion states: „She dropped it…!“ As if he had been waiting for that to happen. Isn’t KJ funny again when she whispers „To the Ladie’s room, fast!“ into the brooch? Uh oh, but Lee is not amused at all. He takes his jacket and whoooooo…. here comes the hurricane! Wow, how the two of them start fighting! How the emotions build up and explode! I think it is really remarkable how much Lee gets out of control here. „Do you have any idea of how many woman Jim has been sincere with? Dozens!“ You can almost see flashes of lightning shoot from his eyes when Amanda says: „Look, you might think Jim’s no good…“ Whoooooaaa, look at his silent reaction to that! Did he ever give her such a cold look before? I think he looks almost dangerous… But Amanda is not intimidated. She fights back! And I think this is important. I admire her for holding her ground. Lee has to learn some lessons – and Amanda will teach him! 🙂

Delano escorts Amanda, errrr, Victoria home… Hey, wait a minute! When he hands over his card to Amanda we clearly see a ring on his right hand! I am not sure wether it is different in the US, but in Germany most people would wear an engagment ring on the left and a wedding ring on the right hand. Although there are exeptions to the rule… I am confused now… Which is good, because this way I miss the kiss Delano gives Victoria. Yuck! I don’t want to see this.

As soon as Victoria/Amanda enters the house the romantic evening bursts like a soap bubble . How beasty maid Mary is when she snatches Victoria’s jewels and locks them away! Thank God there is a super spy turning round the corner: Lee has waited for Amanda’s return. I wonder why? He seems to be relaxed and in good humour, too. I really like the „Cinderella“-line… Yes, we are in the midst of a fairy world! Love it. Please don’t wake me up…

Did you realize that both Lee and Amanda feel a little insecure after their fight? Lee covers it up with his charm, but he still inquires how her evening was. He can’t help it. And Amanda? She is a little surprised to see him: half way happy, half way bashful and not quite sure what to do. I love these two! The air seems fresh and clear after the fight, but you can still feel a faint echo of it when Lee comes back to his question of what Amanda was going to tell about the evening… And Amanda repeats she wasn’t going to say anything about it. There is a little spark in Lee’s eye again, but luckily the telephone rings.

Hollander creeps me out. That watchful villain understood that Singer had been talking to someone on the phone before he entered the room. OMG. Mr. Singer is in for a bad surprise. But we SMK fans are in for a good one: casually dressed Lee hides behind a hedge looking absolutely gorgeous with his collar up and his shirt open (swoooooon).

Wait a minute. Is that jingle of the ice cream car the same we hear in the next episode („Saved by the bells“)? Maybe these episodes were produced in the summer and the staff was desperate for some tasty cold ice cream? ;-P

Not meaning to be a spoil-sport, but somehow the killing scene didn’t make me laugh. I consent that it may seem weird to get run over by an ice cream truck… but reality is sometimes even more absurd. I believe people get involved in all sorts of weird accidents… And this wasn’t an accident. It was an assault. Alright alright, I know it is only a TV show. But I totally believed that Singer died in that scene.

Teee heee!! ahhh thanks Andrea! It was so preposterous I had to laugh!! Not much suspense in being chased by an ice cream truck.. I just love smk for it’s quirky use of irony!! and it’s ridiculous deaths!! ( Hey anyone reading this seen the UK series Horrible Histories?? This one could qualify for the ‘ stupid deaths’ segment!! )

I really wonder about the timing of this episode. I think the producers etc ‘put it out there’ to test the waters on UST…then they withdrew big time. Can’t give the public what they want too early or they might run out of ideas. It was just so left field then back to normal. Or perhaps it was to make Amanda realise she had feelings for Lee when she found out how he saved her…….The light bulb was on for her but definitely not for Lee.

Very interesting placement of this episode. I would LOVE to know if anyone has ever asked TPTB why they did this now.

Hi Jane – yippeeeee you made it to my blog! I am very excited to see you commenting here!! 🙂

The final scenes will be published in the next few days it’s all done and dusted – I just don’t want to post them all at once! Plus I need to get a little ahead as part two of my moving starts next week ( long story, don’t ask!) so hopefully I won’t be delayed and will be able to keep up the pace – these are fun episodes we are in the middle of now and i am looking forward to revisiting them with you and everyone!

I sooo agree with you!! I feel that vibe too.. that the unresolved sexual tension was pulled just a little too tightly and so they wound it back and gave it some slack before it snapped completely.. lol.. There are some pretty intense moments in Season 1 – lots of near deaths and Lee or Amanda in danger.. lots of Lee with no shirt on or his shirt open.. ahem.. ( not that I am complaining) but I guess they couldn’t sustain that level forever.. and they had to bring things down to a lower gear ( hey now I am mixing my metaphors! It’s thinking of Lee shirtless that’s done it! ).

I have the impression (not a fully formed opinion!! haaa) they focus on the UST in season 1.. and then switch to the growing feelings, trust and closeness between them in Season 2, and then hit the switch and bring up the heat again in Season 3 ( A lovely little affair- hooo haa!) .. does that stand up to scrutiny? not sure.. What do you think Jane? or anyone else have a theory about this they would like to share?

You think Amanda’s light bulb is on? ( flicked 3 times – LOL!) I think the light bulb is on for both of them.. but it shines brighter and then dimmer in different ways for both of them! That is a whole other subject we should definitely explore together if you are interested! Remind me if I don’t revisit that!! I get confused when people discuss this.. how they define whether it’s love.. as there are so many shades to it..

I have been thinking through the episode order of these early episodes.. I’ll post on it after I have done some more episodes… in the meantime it is interesting to hear you wonder about it too!

Oh, I don’t know I think we got a glimpse of just how much Lee really did care for Amanda. I think the whole first season was a struggle against him caring for someone. So often we see him be a jerk to her in the first season but every once in a while he lets down his guard and you can see that he gives a damn. I think he does in large part because he feels responsible for her but it’s more than that. She gets to him. You can see that in moments like when they were in the car(I forget which episode) and she jumps on him and he gets all flustered. and in how concerned he is for her when she has amnesia and how concerned he is when she gets kidnapped in his place. I always thought one of the reasons he got so annoyed with her is because she did get to him a little bit. I know a big part of him being a jerk and getting annoyed was because she was always getting in trouble and she never listed. In his line of work that’s a liability so I can see why didn’t always relish working with her. But I also thought part of why he was a jerk was because it annoyed him just as much that she got to him. He didn’t want any attachments.

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